A blog created to slowly make "The Zen Teaching of 'Homeless' Kodo" available to all.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Posture is Beyond Thinking

I read this passage today from Issho Fujita via Kyoshin Samuels excellent Jodo Shinshu/Zazen blog "Echoes of The Name". I highly recommend Kyoshin's blog. I've really become intrigued with Shinran through Kyoshin's blog. Taigen Leighton also has a number talks on the similaatities between Dogen and Shinran on his sight.

"When we refer to the qualities of.....beyond thinking(hishiryo).....we mean that the sitting posture is (itself) beyond thinking and has no thought,.....not that we ourselves are. We will never be beyond thinking.....What we can do is sit with the faith that zazen posture itself is Buddha, that zazen posture itself is beyond thinking. We tend to think that we are sitting zazen. This is not the case. The entire universe is sitting zazen."

3 comments:

Thanks for the shout-out Al. Here's a quote from Kosho Uchiyama you might appreciate right now:

"is it possible for us to always feel that we are living in the universe of Amitabha Buddha and feel grateful for it? I think is is often impossible for us ordinary human beings in our actual day-today lives … But those are all my own thoughts. Therefore, we let go of thought and our own viewpoint and chant “Namu Amida Butsu”. Them my limited way of viewing things is removed; this is why I say chanting is portable zazen."